Rolotillers or cultivators have long been used to plow and cultivate gardens and the like. There are several different types of these cultivators. For instance, some have tines or soil-churning members located at the rear of the tiller behind the wheels and motor, as can be seen in Whitney U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,428, while others have them disposed near the front of the tiller below the motor.
Several rototillers are known to have accessories which shield the plants being cultivated from the blades, tines or soil-churning members. Many of these, however, are not capable of shielding plants on both sides of the apparatus. An example of such a device can be seen in Heilman U.S. Pat. No. 2,959,231. Clark U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,929 also shows such a cultivator with a wheeled attachment fitted on one side to lift vines and vegetative matter away from the blade.
Some cultivators, however, have been developed which do employ shields on both sides. However, these generally include an arrangement in which the shields are connected in some manner to the axle or shaft on which the blades or tines are mounted. Examples can be seen in Richards U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,325 and Lee U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,186. These devices permit the shields to pivot around the tine shaft, but such an arrangement may not be suitable for use at all times during the season, especially when the plants are quite small. Moreover, because the shields are connected to the tine shaft and the tines are limited as to the depth to which they may disrupt the soil, the vertical positioning of the shields is also fixed.
Pierce U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,185 does show a tiller which has shields on both sides and which employs a supporting device mounted on the frame of the tiller rather than the shaft of the tines. These shields are adjustable, but only to predetermined, fixed positions and are not free floating.
Applicant's earlier patent, Stahl U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,234, discloses an assembly designed to overcome the above-noted deficiencies of the prior art. That patent discloses shields mounted on both sides of the cultivator and also discloses that the shields are free floating and that the range or amount of movement of the shields in a vertical direction is adjustable.
While the prior art disclosed above, particularly that shown in Stahl U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,234, is believed to be suitable for the purposes for which it was designed, it is believed that still further improvements can be made.
For one thing, the decks of cultivators are often configured so that they extend horizontally from the front of the cultivator to a point near the rear and then taper downwardly so as to protect the operator. It has been found that the means of attaching the skirt assembly of the present invention to the deck can be improved by providing bracing to accommodate the change in planar configuration of the deck.
Furthermore, and inasmuch as the present invention is intended to be adapted to retrofitting as well as original production, it is believed advantageous to make the device more easily transportable and, therefore, the cross shafts of the Stahl invention, which extend entirely across the deck, may be modified to facilitate packaging and transportation.
Finally, while the free-floating arrangement of the Stahl prior art is certainly operative and effective, it does require threading of the suspension members which support the shields to accommodate an adjustment nut. The use of such a nut also requires the availability of a wrench in the field so that the operator may adjust during use.
Accordingly, it is believed possible to provide the effective free-floating arrangement of the shields disclosed in Applicant's earlier patent while improving the user-friendly nature thereof and reducing the cost.